![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.4702997.1574810978!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
Police warning of scam callers posing as Ottawa Victim Services
![cell phone A person uses a cell phone in Ottawa on Monday, July 18, 2022. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick)](/content/dam/cp24/en/images/2022/12/28/cell-phone-1-6210135-1714317535926.jpg)
Ottawa police are warning of a phone scam involving fraudsters pretending to be support workers from Ottawa Victim Services.
- Sign up now for daily CTV News Ottawa newsletters
- The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App
The Ottawa Police Service's fraud unit says the scam involves a fraudster telling the victim that their personal information has been compromised and is appearing on the dark web relating to crimes against children.
The victim is then instructed to enter their banking information and transfer funds out of their accounts into one that has been specifically prepared by the fraudster. The fraudster may also offer to help the victim transfer the money.
Police are warning that the scammer will reference a partnership with the Ottawa Police Service and calls will appear to be a telephone number belonging to Ottawa Victim Services.
Police tell residents that should they receive an unsolicited call from a person requesting money or personal information, that they should tell the person on the line that they will call them back.
They should then verify the correct number for whatever agency is calling before calling back
"It should be further noted that the actual Ottawa Police phone number (613-236-1222) as well as Ottawa Victim Services (613-238-2762) will not show up on your call display when you are receiving a legitimate call from either of them," police say in a news release.
Ottawa Victim Services is a non-profit organization that provides emotional and practical support to people affected by a crime or tragedy.
People who are a victim of fraud can make a report online with the Ottawa Police Service and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre by phone at 1-888-495-8501.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.7034404.1726088503!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
'Buy nothing': PSAC wants federal workers to boycott downtown Ottawa businesses
A union representing federal employees is asking its members to bring their own lunch to work, in an apparent retaliation against downtown Ottawa businesses as new return-to-office protocols begin.
Actions speak louder: What experts are saying about the body language in the U.S. presidential debate
The highly anticipated debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump was a heated matchup. Here's what experts who analyzed the exchange had to say.
Jon Bon Jovi helps talk woman down from ledge on Nashville bridge
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jon Bon Jovi and a video production assistant persuaded a woman standing on the ledge of a pedestrian bridge in Nashville to come back over the railing to safety.
Inside a Manitoba ghost town, a group of ladies works to keep it alive
Abandoned homes line the streets of Lauder, a town that's now a ghost of what it once was. Yet inside, a small community is thriving.
B.C. family says razor blades found in bag of frozen blueberries
The B.C. parents of an 11-year-old girl said their daughter recently found a package containing razor blades in a bag of Kirkland-brand frozen blueberries.
Langenburg UFO sighting commemorated with silver coin
Perhaps Saskatchewan's most famous encounter with Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP/UFO) – "The Langenburg Event" is now being immortalized in the form of a collective coin.
Taylor Swift wins at MTV Video Music Awards and Chappell Roan gets medieval
Taylor Swift and Post Malone took home the first award at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards, for best collaboration, handed to them by Flavor Flav and Olympian Jordan Chiles.
Man, 70, and woman, 71, found shot dead in Montreal apartment, police
Montreal police (SPVM) are investigating after a man, 70, and woman, 71, were killed by gunshot wounds in an apartment.
Tens of thousands in the dark after Hurricane Francine strikes Louisiana with 100 m.p.h. winds
Hurricane Francine struck Louisiana on Wednesday evening as a Category 2 storm that forecasters warned could bring deadly storm surge, widespread flooding and destructive winds on the northern U.S. Gulf Coast.